Wordorigins.org
A whole nother language
Lauren Collins, the New Yorker writer who profiled Benjamin Creme in the Nov. 29 issue, described the London-based spiritual leader as — among other things — “ruddy-complected.” I’ve grown accustomed to seeing the occasional typo, as well as the occasional F-word, in the magazine, but complected — that was a bit of a shock. Wasn’t that a word to avoid in polite company, hardly better bred than irregardless and ain’t? Complected, our teachers told us, was a misbegotten monster. Still, if complected had been a favorite of Jane Austen and Emily Bronte, it might be the standard form today. Does its New Yorker debut mean complected is finally getting some respect? The mavens at Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage are (as usual) more tolerant. But much as I admire Merriam-Webster’s usage research, this seems to oversimplify. But the label “Americanism” no longer embarrasses American writers. BBC News, on the other hand, has an entire stylebook section on Americanisms.
The Cambridge Online Survey of World Englishes
We want to document the range of variation in World Englishes. The map below shows an example of what we are interested in. Do you say pop or soda? pop (39%) soda (37%) coke (18%) soft drink (1%) Would you like to submit your own answers? Or if you are only interested in the results, you can find a summary here. This article by Ben Zimmer explains the relationship between the surveys on this site and the dialect maps that have recently received much media attention.
Learn 40 Languages for Free: Spanish, English, Chinese & More
How to learn languages for free? This collection features lessons in 48 languages, including Spanish, French, English, Mandarin, Italian, Russian and more. Download audio lessons to your computer or mp3 player and you’re good to go. Amharic Foreign Service Institute Basic Amharic — Audio — TextbookLessons with dialogues, drills, exercises, and narratives will teach you the basics of this language spoken in Ethiopia. Includes samples of speech, explanations of basic language structures, and a variety of practical exercises. Ancient Greek Ancient Greek Introduction — Web SiteThe UT-Austin Linguistics Research Center provides an overview of Ancient Greek and 10 lessons based on famous Greek texts. Arabic Bookmark our free Arabic lessons section. American Sign Language Introductory American Sign Language Course — YouTubeBy the end of this course you should have a basic bank of ASL words that you are able to use to form simple sentences.
The Unword Dictionary
Words in English :: History
A Brief History of English, with Chronologyby Suzanne Kemmer © 2001-2005 Pre-English | Old English | Middle English | Modern English The language we call English was first brought to the north sea coasts of England in the 5th and 6th centuries A.D., by seafaring people from Denmark and the northwestern coasts of present-day Germany and the Netherlands. These immigrants spoke a cluster of related dialects falling within the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family. Their language began to develop its own distinctive features in isolation from the continental Germanic languages, and by 600 A.D. had developed into what we call Old English or Anglo-Saxon, covering the territory of most of modern England. New waves of Germanic invaders and settlers came from Norway and Denmark starting in the late 8th century. The Norman Invasion and Conquest of 1066 was a cataclysmic event that brought new rulers and new cultural, social and linguistic influences to the British Isles.
How Y’all, Youse and You Guys Talk
Wrds
Thou eunuch of language
In 1791, riled by a recent review that criticised a supposed abundance of "obscure language" and "imperfect grammar" in his poetry, celebrated Scottish poet Robert Burns channelled his anger and wrote the following magnificent letter to the critic responsible. It really is a thing of beauty. (Source: The Works of Robert Burns, Volume 4; Image: Robert Burns, courtesy of the BBC.)
Just Deserts
Claim: A person who gets what he deserves is said to have received his "just desserts." Example:[Collected via e-mail, December 2009] In your Fair Shake article, which was the New Urban Legend earlier this week, you have a link to other legends that include a thief or other wrong-doer getting a proper comeuppance. Unfortunately, the link is title "just deserts", and while some of the tales may indeed take place in the Mojave or the Sahara, you probably intended to link to legends involving "just desserts"; that second S makes all the difference. Origins: Sometimes it doesn't matter whether you use language correctly, because people will think you're wrong even when you're not. For example, when we established the "Crime and Punishment" section of this site, we created a category for tales about criminals whose punishments were meted out in unusual ways. You spell "Dessert" wrong in this link. I think your intention is to refer to metaphor using the term for after dinner snack.
How Far Back in Time Could a Modern English Speaker Go and Still Communicate? | by Kathy Copeland Padden | Human Parts
Past Is Prologue The transition from Old English to Modern English was a process, not an event Changes in language don’t occur overnight, though slang terms come in and out of use relatively quickly and new words are invented while others fall into disuse. The rules of grammar you learned in school are the same ones your parents were taught and what your own kids will (or do) use. A few new words are tossed in the mix every few years to keep things interesting (remember the uproar when “ain’t” was added to the dictionary?). The transition from Old English to Middle English to Modern English was a process rather than an event — the rules didn’t all suddenly change on May 24, 1503. Hwæt! I’m completely lost. Modern English translation as follows: Listen! Yeah, not even close. Let’s bump it up a bit to Chaucer’s time at the turn of the 14th century, when Middle English was in use (circa 1100 through 1450). No walk in the park, but not completely indecipherable like Anglo-Saxon Old English.
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